ISLAMABAD (Monitoring Desk): Pakistan’s government plans to seize control of charities and financial assets linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leader Hafiz Saeed, who Washington has designated a terrorist, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters.
Pakistan’s government detailed its plans in a secret order to various provincial and federal government departments on Dec. 19, three officials who attended one of several high-level meeting discussing the crackdown told Reuters.
Marked “secret”, a Dec. 19 document from the finance ministry directed law enforcement and all the provinces to submit an action plan by Dec. 28 for a “takeover” of Saeed’s two charities, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
Washington and India blame Hafiz Saeed suspected masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
The Dec. 19th document, which refers to “Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issues”, names only Saeed’s two charities and “actions to be taken” against them.
Asked about a crackdown on JuD and FIF, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who co-chaired one of the meetings on the plan, responded only generally, saying he has ordered authorities “to choke the fundraising of all proscribed outfits in Pakistan”.
In a written reply to Reuters, he also said Pakistan wasn’t taking action under U.S. pressure. “We’re not pleasing anyone. We’re working as a responsible nation to fulfill our obligations to our people and international community.”
Spokesmen for the JuD and FIF both said they could not comment until they receive official notifications of the government’s plans. “We don’t have any intimation about any crackdown so far,” FIF spokesman Salman Shahid told Reuters. “No one has asked us about our work or assets.”
Saeed could not be reached for comment.
The Dec. 19th document gave few details about how the state would take over Saeed’s charities, pending the plans submitted from the provincial governments. It did say it would involve government entities taking over ambulance services and accounting for other vehicles used by the charities.
It says law enforcement agencies will coordinate with Pakistan’s intelligence agencies to identify the assets of the two charities and examine how they raise money.
